View full sizeKirby Burnham, front, and Stevi Robinson of Southern Cal won the AVCA Collegiate Sand Volleyball national pairs championship in Gulf Shores on Sunday, May 5, 2013. (Brian Kelly/bkelly@al.com)

GULF SHORES, Alabama - Kirby Burnham and Stevi Robinson of Southern Cal won the 2013 AVCA Collegiate Sand Volleyball national pairs championship today, as the duo that finished second in last year's inaugural tournament came in second in this year's as well.

Burnham, who was eliminated in last year's quarterfinals while playing with a different partner, and Robinson defeated Long Beach State's Caitlin Ledoux and Tara Roenicke 21-19, 21-19 to cap three days of sand volleyball at the Gulf Shores public beach.

All four players in the pairs final match were named to the AVCA All-American team on Saturday.

The 6-foot-2 Burnham and the 5-6 Robinson were the No. 1 seed for the national pairs tournament. Ledoux and Roenicke were seeded second. The USC pair posted three victories in four meetings with the Long Beach State duo this season.

Ledoux and Roenicke didn't get to play in the national championship team final on Saturday because their opponent, Pepperdine, forfeited the No. 1 match due to an injury. The 49ers went on to win the national championship, reversing the outcome of last year's team final.

Ledoux and Roenicke couldn't do the same in the pairs final, though. Last year, they lost to the Pepperdine pair of Caitlin Racich and Summer Ross in three sets. This year, they dropped a two-set nail-biter to Burnham and Robinson.

The Long Beach State pair led the second set in the finals 17-16, but couldn't put it away.

Racich was back in the pairs tourney, but with a different partner. They was eliminated in the first round today.

Burnham and Robinson's path to the championship started with a 21-12, 21-9 victory over North Florida's Carolyn Jenkins and Cari Whitmire. In the quarterfinals, they survived against Zuzana Markova and Tetiana Sukach of Louisiana-Monroe with a 19-21, 21-19, 15-11 victory.

Georgia State's Lane Carico and Katie Madewell reached the semifinals as the 12th seeds in the pairs tourney, but Burnham and Robinson eliminated them 21-11, 21-16 to reach the finals.

Ledoux and Roenicke won three straight-set matches to reach the finals.